A Deeply Fractured US

[Brad Sallows]

Setting aside how utterly bullshit it is to characterize a crime problem as an ‘armed conflict’, the U.S. has now adopted very specific and meaningful terminology in characterizing this as a Non-Internwtional Armed Conflict. In doing so they subject anyone involved in it to all the duties and protections of the Laws of Armed Conflict, and applicable customary international law. Adopting the terminology to enable the things they want it to permit also demonstrates an incremental movement in U.S. state acquiescence to the continued development of surrounding international norms, even if the U.S. isn’t signing on to particular treaties.

That's one frame.

Another is that they've decided they're dealing with Barbary pirates, and they're going to do it the way it was done the last time (in essence).

 

[Brad Sallows]

The fact there is so many tolerating it in the states is wild to me considering how many militia members and anti-government people they have there. Both the left and the right in the states have a vested interest in keeping the military off their streets.

There aren't actually that many military on the streets. When some people complain about riots ruining the country, others explain that the really violent ones only happen in a very few places, and the pockets of rampant disorder (eg. CHAZ) are less than the fingers on one hand, after accidental amputation of a couple. The same observation applies to military on the streets, but the politics of who complains and who excuses are reversed.

 

[Brad Sallows]

.

Oh, I'm sure those backing the president of the USA using the military to fight crime would be behind PM of Canada using the military to enforce the gun buyback.

To do otherwise would be highly hypocritical.

Kind of a dumb take, leaving out the signal characteristic : violent.

 

[Remius]

.

Kind of a dumb take, leaving out the signal characteristic : violent.

Also a dumb take.

Plenty of other violent crime and the military isn’t deployed.

The signal characteristic isn’t being equally applied.

Moving goal posts…

 

[Brad Sallows]

Also a dumb take.

Plenty of other violent crime and the military isn’t deployed.

Correct. They're being deployed where the federal government claims things are above some arbitrary level of "bad" for which they can't really provide a definition, and there's an easily identifiable political punishing-political-enemies nexus they can't wiggle away from which casts highly reasonable doubt on their motives. Possible uses probably exceed resources, but one effective way of dealing with insurmountable social problems is to make demonstrations that encourage others to deal with them. (See also, illegal immigration.)

But the violent crime comes first, often in a context in which the local authorities have as a matter of unambiguously stated policy declined measures which might contain some of it, and equally often expressed open sympathy for resisting federal enforcement of federal laws and leaving feds to deal with resistance. And that's an invitation to feds to take up the challenge. And the feds have soldiers in the toolkit.

 

[The Bread Guy]

U.S.-based Catholic media: private Catholic university in Florida getting a Christ-Kirk statue:

Sculpture of Jesus and Charlie Kirk to be installed at Ave Maria University

The day after Charlie Kirk was assassinated, renowned Catholic sculptor Timothy Schmalz began working on a sculpture no one had commissioned.

www.catholicnewsagency.com

Also archived here.

 

[brihard]

That's one frame.

Another is that they've decided they're dealing with Barbary pirates, and they're going to do it the way it was done the last time (in essence).

They haven’t asserted that alternative frame. International law around piracy is very well established and with universal jurisdiction. That would actually be more of an ‘easy button’ to slap if the facts supported it. They don’t, so they didn’t. Instead the administration has specifically chosen and used the terminology “non-international armed conflict’. That’s not accidental, it is legally meaningful. They’ve picked a defined lane on this.

 

[Brad Sallows]

They haven’t asserted that alternative frame. International law around piracy is very well established and with universal jurisdiction. That would actually be more of an ‘easy button’ to slap if the facts supported it. They don’t, so they didn’t. Instead the administration has specifically chosen and used the terminology “non-international armed conflict’. That’s not accidental, it is legally meaningful. They’ve picked a defined lane on this.

I do not expect the administration to choose something they think works for them in international law and use it as a platform of convenience while acting in the way in which so many of them have been talking/writing.

 

[mariomike]

I saw about 2-4 minutes of Hegseths speech and about 8-10 minutes of Trumps speech. Hegseth just came across as a reactionary who wants to turn the clock back to the 1950s. Trump was just purely rambling, nonsensical stream of consciousness, embarrassing, especially considering who he was talking to. In a way it was far worse than his speech to the UN a few days ago.

Idle speculation,

Pete's crack about getting rid of "beardos".

Could that have implied replacing J.D. on the '28 ticket?

 

[HavokFour]

The judge wasn't home when it occurred but 3 of her family members were, which included her husband (former Democratic state senator Arnold Goodstein) and their son who have all been hospitalized with serious injuries. The cause hasn't been ruled as either an accident or arson yet, but it's certainly something to watch because she isn't exactly in the current admins good book.

The 69-year-old judge had received death threats in the weeks leading up to the fire, multiple sources told FITSNews. Last month, Goodstein had temporarily blocked the state’s election commission from releasing its voter files to the Department of Justice, a decision that was openly criticized by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon and later reversed by the state Supreme Court. The DOJ had sought the information, including names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, and social security numbers, of over three million registered voters as part of President Donald Trump’s March executive order restricting non-citizens from registering to vote. (Non-citizens are already not allowed to vote in federal and state elections.)

House of South Carolina Judge Criticized by Trump Administration Burns Down

Authorities are investigating a fire at the home of a South Carolina judge who had reportedly received death threats in what could be the latest incident of political violence across the country.

time.com

Archive

 

[brihard]

The judge wasn't home when it occurred but 3 of her family members were, which included her husband (former Democratic state senator Arnold Goodstein) and their son who have all been hospitalized with serious injuries. The cause hasn't been ruled as either an accident or arson yet, but it's certainly something to watch because she isn't exactly in the current admins good book.

House of South Carolina Judge Criticized by Trump Administration Burns Down

Authorities are investigating a fire at the home of a South Carolina judge who had reportedly received death threats in what could be the latest incident of political violence across the country.

time.com

Archive

That’s not ideal.

 

[Remius]

That’s not ideal.

Apparently some conservatives are angry at the accusation blaming the extreme right…

The US is a weird place these days…

 

[PrairieFella]

Idle speculation,

Pete's crack about getting rid of "beardos".

Could that have implied replacing J.D. on the '28 ticket?

Surely this isnt a way to make the lives of black soldiers who are often given beard chits harder, right?

 

[PrairieFella]

Apparently some conservatives are angry at the accusation blaming the extreme right…

The US is a weird place these days…

It really is like a collective psychosis swept the States during COVID. It broke the brains of like half the population.

 

[Jarnhamar]

It really is like a collective psychosis swept the States during COVID. It broke the brains of like half the population.

Do you mean half the US have broken brains or the Republican/Conservatives in the US have broken brains?

 

[PrairieFella]

Do you mean half the US have broken brains or the Republican/Conservatives in the US have broken brains?

Im not speaking on partisan lines on this one. My observation is it seems right wingers appear more deranged as of late but there are plenty lefties that are also deranged in the US. Its undeniable that rightists are the big culprit right now in the collective US mental break, maybe its more noticeable because they hold all the levers of power.

 

[dapaterson]

https://bsky.app/profile/newyorker.com%2Fpost%2F3m2jws53in22m

 

[Jarnhamar]

My observation is it seems right wingers appear more deranged as of late

Could you give examples?

 

[PrairieFella]

Could you give examples?

The attempted occupation of cities with federalized troops and the astroturfing thats being pumped out around that is a visible example at the moment. A lot of small-government, states rights advocates are glazing the federal government for sending in the army to places that dont want or need them.

 

[Jarnhamar]

Interesting examples, thank you. So it's more right wing government/authority that's deranged over run of the mill right wingers?